


Shy Smiles, Wishing Stars, Sprinting Miles, Ancient Scars

by PeppermintGlow



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 18:39:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13840662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeppermintGlow/pseuds/PeppermintGlow
Summary: Crown Prince Jihoon marries Prince Consort Seungcheol, a deal arranged by their fathers. Arranged marriages prove to be tough. Especially when you are a royal.





	Shy Smiles, Wishing Stars, Sprinting Miles, Ancient Scars

“Yes, your highness.”

He cocked his head.

“No, your highness, I don’t think so.”

He sighed.

“Yes, your highness.”

He checked his watch.

“Fifteen minutes, your highness.”

He gave Hansol a look.

“I believe he is, your highness.”

 _His highness_ dropped his head a moment, then shook it, straightened up and clapped his personal assistant on the shoulder.

Hansol stood even straighter. “Thank you, your highness. I do try to be of _some_ support when you need me.”

His Highness the Grand Prince Seungcheol gave the young man a one-armed hug. “You’re the best.”

Hansol dusted off the Prince’s uniform. “I’m just being cool, that is all. You know. I’m employed by the hot prince, so I have to match your coolness.”

“You worry me, Hansol.”

“I know, your highness.” He stood straight and saluted with a wolfish grin. “Are you ready to go get married, sir?”

Seungcheol sighed deeply. “I hate arranged marriages. It’s so stupid. I’ve never met him, don’t know anything about him, and I have to marry him because daddy dearest is a hothead who cant control himself around other monarchs and needs to make good relations with other countries.”

“Could be worse, sir.”

“How?”

“I could resign.”

“ _Don’t resign!_ ”

He chuckled. “I won’t. For the record, you look very dashing. The prince should fall in love with you the moment he sees you.”

“Are _you_ falling in love with me?”

“I’ve seen how you eat KFC. I’m not going to fall in love with you.”

“I resent that.”

“I know.”

There was a knock on the heavy door, an aide appearing in the doorway. “Your highness? It’s ti-…. Time.” The aide stared a moment. “Forgive me your highness. You look… dashing.”

Seungcheol had to crack a grin at that. “That’s two for two. I guess it’s time then.”

 

Crown Prince Lee Jihoon looked relatively similar to his portrait; he was maybe a little shorter than expected, but his face was just as round and small, and his eyes just as dark. He looked good in his military uniform, as Seungcheol looked in his, but he did not offer much of an emotion other than a straight smile.

The ceremony was brief and to the point, with little said on either side, and then it was over. There were celebrations and a ceremonious ride through the city in a horse-drawn carriage, but it was both the princes together with His Majesty the King and the Prime Minister, and considering nobody in the carriage had slept much, it was a rather silent, and awkward ride.

With the late morning ceremony out of the way, the newly married couple stood out on the balcony to greet the group of people standing at the palace gates; then Seungcheol was called away for the afternoon – to ‘lie down’ after the festivities.

Hansol bridled as he led Seungcheol to his personal quarters. “Tired, sir?”

“A bit. It’s exhausting.” Seungcheol sighed. “It’s too tense. I haven’t even gotten to speak to him. And now… now I’m _married_.”

“Yes, sir. That is how weddings tend to work.”

Seungcheol gripped him, more for support than anything else as they walked. “At least I have you here with me.”

 

After laying on a chaise for five hours – one of which was spent having a luxurious and decadent lunch which was brought to him on a silver cart – Seungcheol was then dressed in a dark tuxedo with a bright red bow tie, and brought out to a lavish and public dinner. Just in front of the entrance he was stood stationary, and joined by his brand-new husband, similarly attired.

“Hi,” Seungcheol smiled, trying to be friendly.

Crown Prince Jihoon first looked up at him, then tried to smile a little, and replied, “Hello.”

Seungcheol would have asked him if he’d eaten – it seemed a tame enough question to ask one’s new spouse – but the doors opened long before he could mention it, and so he straightened out into a formal standing position and entered the dining hall with his husband.

They each sat at one end of the table, making them almost 100 people apart, on either side. Seungcheol was joined on one side by special councillor Kye and on the other, Ambassador Minki, who had given him plenty of lengthy briefings before he arrived about how things were run in foreign courts.

And it wasn’t that he _disliked_ ambassador Minki – it was more that the man was long-winded when he didn’t need to be, and frustratingly short on details when it really mattered, which tended to make him an inexcellent ambassador at best.

The dinner was decadent and plentiful, and luxurious above all, which was the norm in this place: he had seen it in the golden trimmings and silver details of every item in the palace. What was the most frustrating, though, was the fact that he had already been married for almost ten hours by dessert, and still hadn’t exchanged any words of due importance to his husband.

And considering his marriage vows had been the first time they had heard each other’s voices, that didn’t really count.

Jihoon was so far along the enormous table that Seungcheol could barely see the top of his head past candelabras and silver dishes, and he certainly was too far to hear his voice. It almost felt kind of lonely.

Strange then, to muse over one’s fresh spouse over mashed potato and filet mignon. He barely knew his husband, and he wasn’t getting the time to speak to him – God knows why they had been kept apart the whole afternoon – which was mounting to be an extremely awkward prelude to later that evening.

There were Seungcheol’s rooms – a sitting room, a dining and drawing room, ensuite bathroom and a bedroom – on one end of the corridor, and he was aware that his husband’s was on the far side of the corridor. Between the two there existed what was hitherto a magical, mystical space that served the same rooms only larger, meant for when the two princes were to spend their first night as man and husband. It would also serve their physical needs after this.

Seungcheol hadn’t been inside them yet. And he was terrified to. The idea of his first night with his groom was enough to terrify a prince already, but not having exchanged more than initial pleasantries with him? That was worse. So much worse.

 

“Goodnight, your highness.”

Seungcheol was a little late in replying “Good night” himself – he simply stared at the door opened in front of him for a moment before awkwardly stepping through, knocking on the door. “Excuse me…? Oh?”

The room was lovely, but empty: it had expensive rugs and a large seating area decorated with at least seven displays of flowers, but his husband was not there. The luxurious, five-person jacuzzi and two-person shower were impressive, as was the _sickeningly_ large bed, but the rooms were empty. Jihoon was not there.

So Seungcheol did what any normal twenty-five-year-old would do. He sat on the chaise, whipped out his phone, and began to play Dream Daddy.

As you do.

It was late when he had arrived, but it took his partner another two and a half hours to arrive, well past midnight, and looking entirely neat with not a hair out of place despite the late hour. Seungcheol almost leapt a mile in the air when the door opened, and the Prince started too, as if surprised to find another human being there.

“Oh, it’s just you.” He turned to close the door behind him. “I forgot.”

“You forgot? On your wedding day?” He regretted the words the moment he’d said them – there wasn’t anything more hypocritical than telling your husband off for forgetting he’d gotten married when you were sitting on a couch playing Dream Daddy.

The Crown Prince shrugged a little in his defence. “I can’t be perfect _all_ the time. Have you been here long?”

“Uh…” He checked his phone. “A couple of hours.”

“You didn’t go to bed?”

Seungcheol coloured immediately, like a fourteen year old girl. “Uh… no.”

“It’s late, you should have gone to sleep.”

He couldn’t even find an answer to that.

“I have some more paper work to do.” He held up a thick stack of manila envelopes in his arm. “So I suggest you get some sleep. I hear we both have an early start in the morning.”

It took him a moment. “Will your paperwork… take long?”

“It will.” Jihoon moved to the next room, into the study. “See you in the morning.”

“See you-” he was cut short by the door.

 

He had half-expected to wake in the  middle of the night by a small body crawling in under the sheets with him, but when he finally opened his eyes, sunlight lit up Hansol’s face.

“Good morning, your highness.”

The bed had been left untouched.

“Did you sleep well?”

Seungcheol stared at the untouched side of the bed for a sleepy moment. “Uh… yeah. You?”

“As always.”

 

Despite it being his honeymoon, technically, Seungcheol’s schedule was packed. Breakfast, then a common history lesson, then a horseback riding lesson, lunch, and a formal greeting to the royal family and then the ministers and the judges of the supreme court.

Jihoon was not in attendance at any of these events, and frankly, Seungcheol was almost too busy to notice. Almost.

It seemed to be a cruel game of fate: Seungcheol was kept busy every hour of his day, his schedule handled by Hansol who was being handled by the main palace assistant, and Jihoon was obviously neck-deep in the same dilemma. If Jihoon came to their shared bedrooms, it wasn’t until well past 2AM, and usually, Seungcheol had fallen asleep by then.

It wasn’t that the typical ‘first night of the married couple sex’ thing had him jonesing around looking for his way to have. But it _had_ been mentioned by his grandmother, and since then, the idea of it had had him on edge a little. He wasn’t sure he wanted it, but he also felt _deeply_ offended that he wasn’t getting the chance to even discuss it.

His husband was an enigma in and of himself – not unfriendly, simply to the point.

It was obvious the Crown Prince had a lot on his shoulders. He was struggling to cope under the pressure and weight of his father’s reign. While His Majesty the King was still alive, he was still King in name, but with his health taking such a drastic turn for the worse, the Prince had to take on the kingly duties. Seungcheol, being the fifth boy in his family, didn’t even know what that _meant_.

He felt sorry for his husband, wishing there was something he could do to assist – but as Hansol managed his day in and day out, the newly wedded Prince began to realize he was little more than a trophy husband. Sit at the charity, smile, look nice, wave, say some nice words. Be the token royal family member in public photographs.

On the ninth night of his honeymoon, Seungcheol sighed at the door, turned, walked down the corridor, and went to his own room. There was no point in falling asleep in their married couple room. He would just wake up alone again, and that had been depressing enough when he _wasn’t_ married.

It was past 3AM when the door opened, just a crack, orange light flooding the room.

“Oh. Sorry,” a whisper murmured.

“No, no.” Seungcheol cleared his throat a few times, sitting up. “Is it morning?”

“No, middle of the night. I was just… surprised I couldn’t find you.”

“Sorry. You want me to come in?”

“No, that’s okay. Sleep. Big day tomorrow.”

“You sure? I could-”

“Good night.”

The door closed, light gone. He was left alone in the darkness. “… _night_ ,” he whispered to himself before lying back down against the pillows.

 _I guess_ , he thought to himself, already falling back asleep, _this is just what an arranged marriage is like._

 

Nine weeks later, the King passed away in his sleep.

For the first time in nine weeks, the husbands saw each other.

Crown Prince Jihoon was coronated King.

Prince Seungcheol became Prince Consort to the King.

 

And that night, alone in his bed, all Seungcheol could think was, _this is just what an arranged marriage is like. There’s no point in feeling lonely. This is the deal you signed._

It didn’t stop the loneliness from taking another chunk out of his heart. But that was a worry for another day.

**Author's Note:**

> Approximately half-way through writing this, I slammed my dominant index finger between the sharp edges of two doors returning from the water closet. REALLY hard. So I’d like you all to doubly appreciate this chapter cause I’m legit out here writing it with my non-dominant hand. Thank you.


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